Frank defends 'Uncle Tom' diss

Rep. Barney Frank released a scathing statement Tuesday defending his recent comparison of the Log Cabin Republicans to Uncle Tom, saying the LGBT group is “on the wrong side of the election” by pushing Mitt Romney’s “Rick Santorum platform.”

“I am not surprised that members of the Log Cabin Republicans are offended by my comparing them to Uncle Tom,” Frank wrote. “They are no more offended than I am by their campaigning in the name of LGBT rights to elect the candidate and party who diametrically oppose our rights against a president who has forcefully and effectively supported our rights.”

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The openly gay Democratic congressman made the comparison at least twice last week, according to the Advocate, including in an address to the Democratic National Convention’s LGBT Caucus. “I am again inclined to think that they’re called the Log Cabin club because their role model is Uncle Tom,” he said Thursday.

In his statement Tuesday, Frank defended — and expanded on — what he admits is “very harsh criticism.”

“[M]y use of “Uncle Tom” was based not simply on this awful fact that they have chosen to be actively on the wrong side of an election that will have an enormous impact on our right to equality,” he said, later adding that the group “may mislead people who do not share their view that tax cuts for the wealthy are more important than LGBT rights into thinking that they are somehow helping the latter by supporting Mitt Romney and his Rick Santorum platform.”

Frank said that it’s “a good thing for Republicans to try to influence other Republicans to be supportive of LGBT rights,” but argued that the Log Cabin Republicans have failed to do so — and yet, “they pretend to be successful … and urge people to join them in rewarding the Republicans when they have in fact continued their anti-LGBT stance.”

“I have been hearing the Log Cabin Republicans proclaim for years that they were improving the view of that party towards our legal equality,” wrote Frank, who is not seeking reelection in 2012. “In fact, over the past 20 years, things have gotten worse, not better.”

In conclusion, he wrote, “Some have complained that in comparing the Log Cabin Republicans to Uncle Tom, I was ignoring the fact that they are nice. I accept the fact that many of them are nice — so was Uncle Tom — but in both cases, they’ve been nice to the wrong people.”

Log Cabin Republicans executive director R. Clarke Cooper denounced Frank’s comments in a statement of his own to POLITICO.

“Congressman Frank, of all people, should understand the importance of perseverance when working within a party to achieve change — after all, it was not so long ago his party was indifferent at best when it came to respecting gay families,” Cooper said. “Leaders committed to LGBT equality know that every victory our community has achieved has required bipartisan advocacy and bipartisan votes, and winning support from Republicans will only be more important in the days ahead.

“Come January, Republicans will maintain a majority in the House and likely secure a majority in the Senate. Without Log Cabin Republicans working with fellow conservatives, LGBT Americans would be left without a credible voice within the GOP,” Cooper wrote. “Barney Frank’s denial of Log Cabin Republicans success, particularly on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal and the freedom to marry in New York, is sad but unsurprising. It is time for him to pass on the baton to leaders better suited to a world where equality is not a partisan issue.”